Neil MacPherson, RSA RGI RSW: QUIET SONGS IN PAPER CANVAS OIL AND WATER

Neil MacPherson is an artist at the height of his powers,secure in his language and deeply connected to the place that has shaped bothhis life and his work . Over many years he has developed a world of his own,one rooted in the rural Highlands and populated by people animals,memories and stories that feel both familiar,magical and mysterious.

Gordon Brown

 

Many of the paintings come from reading: history, myths, legends and folklore of the north.  Also very important to my work is talking with and listening to neighbours, whose families have worked the land for generations.  For an artist a wonderful bank of knowledge and stories for paintings. The painting ‘The Whistling Romantic’ comes from those local stories of neighbours in the past thinking nothing of walking 10/15 miles to a ceilidh in another district to meet their sweethearts.  Here the man, dressed in all his finery, accompanied by his companions, is whistling the tune that brought him and his sweetheart together.  He thinks nothing of the miles ahead, he is simply happy with life.  ‘The Strongman and the Sparrow’ comes from stories from an old neighbour who worked on the North Highland railway line from the age of 15.  When he started his foreman was a strong foreboding man who could pick up railway sleepers by himself while others would struggle to carry one between them.  Although he was severe with his work team he was very gentle with animals and birds injured by the trains, taking them home and giving them time to heal.  Every painting, no matter how big or small, has a story to tell.   From re-reading the Orkneyinga saga comes the painting ‘A Scottish Saint, Probably Magnus’ showing him on his travels with his faithful companion, a wolf hound, and being threatened by beasts from the depths while protected from above.  In the background the spirits of his forefathers travel in the opposite direction to Valhalla.  Some people will say he was a Norse saint, but in Thurso library there is a book of Catholic saints, published in the 1920s that says he is a Scottish saint.  Who am I to argue with the Catholic church.

Neil MacPherson